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Our publication A Guide for Retirees is a valuable resource to read if you’re retired or planning to retire soon. This guide details the continuing benefits and services NYSLRS provides for its retirees.

What’s Inside A Guide for Retirees?

The first section of A Guide for Retirees outlines
your benefits in clear, straightforward language. It provides an estimate of when
to expect your first pension check, along with a couple reminders to help avert
any delay in your payment. There’s also a brief description of how we calculate
your benefit and information about what to do if you believe your benefit was
calculated incorrectly.

Your NYSLRS retirement benefit will provide you with monthly
payments for the rest of your life. But that doesn’t mean the amount of your pension
won’t change. For example, your benefit will increase once you are eligible for
a cost-of-living adjustment.
Signing up for Medicare or getting a divorce can also change your benefit
amount.

The booklet also describes benefits that your survivors may
be eligible for, such as the post-retirement death benefit.

Pension Verification Letters. You can create your own in Retirement Online or we can send one at your request.

Individual Consultations. You can discuss your benefits with one of our information representatives in person or over the phone.

Your Obligations

Your benefits come with certain responsibilities. Most
importantly, you need to let us know if your address changes. Even if you’re
getting your pension through direct deposit, we need to have your correct
address so we can send you tax documents and other important information.

This section also reminds you to keep your beneficiary
information current, contact us if your check is lost or stolen, and review
your withholding regularly.

This COLA is a permanent annual increase to your retirement benefit. It is based on the cost-of-living index and is designed to address inflation.

How COLA is
Determined

COLA payments, subject to certain limitations, equal 50
percent of the previous year’s inflation rate, but are never less than 1
percent or more than 3 percent of your benefit. The adjustment is applied to
the first $18,000 of your Single Life Allowance, even if you selected a
different option. Once COLA payments begin, you will receive an increase to
your monthly benefit each September.

The September 2019 COLA equals 1 percent, for a maximum annual increase of $180.00, or $15.00 per month before taxes.

Who is
Eligible for a COLA?

To begin receiving COLA payments, you must be:

Age 62 or older and retired for five or more
years; or

Age 55 or older and retired for ten or more
years (uniformed employees such as police officers, firefighters and correction
officers covered by a special plan that allows for retirement, regardless of
age, after a specific number of years); or

A disability retiree for five years; or

The spouse of a deceased retiree receiving a
lifetime benefit under an option elected by the retiree. An eligible spouse is
entitled to one-half the COLA amount that would have been paid to the eligible retiree
when the retiree would have met COLA eligibility; or

A beneficiary receiving the accidental death
benefit for five or more years on behalf of a deceased Retirement System
member.

When Will You See the Increase?

Eligible retirees will see the first 2019 COLA payment in their September pension payment. It will be available to those with direct deposit on September 27, 2019. If you receive a paper check, the COLA will be included in the check to be mailed September 30, 2019.

If you are not eligible yet, you will receive your first COLA increase in the month after you become eligible. This payment will include a prorated amount to cover the month you became eligible. After that, you will receive a COLA increase each September.

Retroactive payments are lump sum payments you receive from your employer. These payments can be from new union contracts, arbitration awards or legal settlements that took place while you were on your employer’s payroll.

Your final average salary (FAS) is a major factor in your pension benefit calculation. Your FAS is the average of your three (five for Tier 6 members) highest consecutive years of earnings. For most people, their highest years of earnings come at the end of their careers.

If you receive a retroactive payment from your employer, it could affect your final average salary. Let’s look at how.

How Retroactive Payments Can Affect Your Benefit

When we calculate your FAS at retirement, retroactive payments are applied to the pay periods when they were earned, not when they were paid. In general, retroactive payments can increase your FAS as long as the time period in which you earned that money is part of the time period your FAS is based on.

Your employer should let us know if you receive a retroactive payment before or after you retire. If you are a State employee who receives a retroactive payment after you retire, we will recalculate your pension automatically; you do not need to notify us. If you receive a retroactive payment from a non-State employer after your pension calculation is finalized, send a letter to our Recalculation Unit in the Benefit Calculations & Disbursement Services Bureau. Please include a copy of your check stub and/or any correspondence you received from your employer. You may also email and upload this information to the Retirement System through our secure contact form.

Today’s post looks at Tier 2 in the Police and Fire Retirement System (PFRS). A majority of PFRS members are in Tier 2, which began on July 31, 1973 and ended on June 30, 2009. Most Police and Fire Retirement System members are in “special” retirement plans that allow for retirement after 20 or 25 years, regardless of age, without penalty.

The special plans that cover municipal police officers and firefighters fall under Sections 384, 384(f), 384-d, and 384-e of Retirement and Social Security Law. As of March 31, 2018, there were 17,380 Tier 2 members in these plans; most of whom are covered by either Section 384-d (36.5 percent) or 384-e (62.8 percent).

Check out the graphic below for the basic retirement information for PFRS Tier 2 members.

NYSLRS pension payment options are designed to fit your needs after you retire. Understanding these options will make it easier for you to choose the one that’s right for you.

While the basic option, the Single Life Allowance, would provide you with a monthly payment for the rest of your life, all payments would end at your death. Other options, in exchange for a reduced benefit, allow you to provide for a spouse or other loved one after you’re gone.

Five and Ten Year Certain options don’t provide a lifetime benefit for a beneficiary, but they have advantages you may want to consider.

How These Pension Payment Options Work

The Five Year Certain or Ten Year Certain options provide you with a reduced monthly benefit for your lifetime. If you die within the five- or ten-year period after your retirement, your beneficiary would receive pension payments for the remainder of the five or ten years. If you live beyond the five- or ten-year period, your beneficiary would not receive a pension benefit upon your death.

Let’s say you choose the Five Year option. If you die two years after retiring, your beneficiary will receive a benefit for three years. If you choose the Ten Year option, and die after two years, your beneficiary will get a benefit for eight years. In either case, your beneficiary would receive the same amount you were receiving, though they would not be eligible for any COLA increases.

Another feature of these plans is that you can change the beneficiary at any time within the five- or ten-year period.

Whatever your situation, you should review the payment options and choose carefully. Visit our Payment Option Descriptions page for details about all available pension payment options. For a better idea of how these payment options would work out for you and your beneficiary, try our online Benefit Calculator.

Retirement comes too soon for some people. Poor health, an injury, family situations, layoffs and other unforeseen circumstances could force you into an unplanned retirement.

You may already have a plan based on the date you would like to retire, but do you have a backup plan if that date comes a few years earlier than expected?

Know Your Benefits

As a NYSLRS member, you’re entitled to benefits that may help. Most vested members can begin collecting a lifetime pension as early as age 55, though your benefit may be permanently reduced if you retire before full retirement age. (Full retirement age for NYSLRS members is either 62 or 63, depending on your tier. Full retirement age for Social Security benefits depends on your year of birth.)

Other Ways to Plan for the Unexpected

Doing your homework is important. The more you understand the potential benefits available to you, the better you can estimate your income if you are forced to retire early. Unfortunately, the numbers you come up with may not be enough when dealing with an unplanned retirement.

But one potential source of income can make a big difference: retirement savings. Your savings could help you get by until you are eligible to collect your NYSLRS pension or another retirement benefit. If you are not saving for retirement, consider starting now. And if you are saving, consider increasing your savings. It could become a lifeline if the unexpected happens.

We’ve started distributing the 2019 Member Annual Statements (MAS) to more than 600,000 NYSLRS members. The process is done in stages over six to eight weeks. School employees receive their statements first; most others should see theirs by mid-July.

Your MAS contains important information about your NYSLRS membership, including your reported salary, service credit and beneficiaries. Depending upon your circumstances, you may also see projected annual benefits, loan balances or past service account balances.

When You Receive Your Statement

Be sure to review the information in your MAS carefully. If you need to update your beneficiaries or change your address, email or phone number, you can use Retirement Online — our convenient and secure self-service tool. You can contact us to correct most errors, but if you have a question about your reported salary, please ask your employer.

The information in your statement is valuable year-round; after you check it over, file your MAS away securely. It’s very likely you’ll reference it again in the future.

Member ID Cards

Your statement also includes a member identification card, with both your registration number and NYSLRS ID number. As we complete our series of computer upgrades, we will phase out the old registration numbers and keep just the NYSLRS IDs.

As identity theft becomes more and more prevalent, please help us protect you and your personal information. Reference either your registration or NYSLRS ID number — not your Social Security number — whenever you contact us.

When you receive your statement, be sure to clip out your ID card. Keep it in a secure but easily accessible place, so you’ll always have your numbers handy.

If you’re a new NYSLRS member, or have been part of the Retirement System for years, you’re sure to have at least some questions about your NYSLRS benefits. What is vesting? Final average salary? Maybe you’re wondering what tier you’re in or why that even matters. Whether you’re a firefighter on Long Island or a State worker in Buffalo, you can find answers to many of your questions in Membership in a Nutshell. This publication is about the basics. It defines terms and explains concepts that are common to all NYSLRS retirement plans. Consider it essential reading.

What’s Inside Membership in a Nutshell?

Membership in a Nutshell provides a brief description of the Retirement System, which comprises the Employees’ Retirement System (ERS) and the Police and Fire Retirement System (PFRS). It also explains the Comptroller’s role as administrator of the System.

That’s followed by a list of some of the benefits provided to members, including:

Service Retirement Benefits (Pensions)

Disability Benefits

Death Benefits

Vesting of Benefits

Loans for Contributing Members

A larger section is dedicated to the details of membership, such as tier status, membership contributions, earning service credit and becoming vested.

Services We Offer

Perhaps the most helpful section describes Services We Offer Members. We want to provide you with the information you’ll need to plan for your retirement and make critical decisions about your future.

Retirement Online is a safe and convenient way to conduct business with NYSLRS, and to access benefit information such as your tier, retirement plan, service credit and beneficiaries. Register today if you don’t already have an account.

As you get closer to retirement, you can request an estimate of your pension from NYSLRS based on our records of your salary and years of service. We also offer one-on-one consultations with NYSLRS information representatives who can explain your benefits, answer your questions and help you feel confident about making your retirement decision.

Your Obligations

As a member, it’s important that you keep your information with NYSLRS up to date. This section discusses the different kinds of information, such as your mailing address and beneficiaries, that you should keep current. Much of this information can be updated using Retirement Online, or you can contact us.

More Information

There’s more information in this publication, but we’ll let you find it for yourself. We’ll also be featuring other publications in future blogs, including such favorites as:

Tier status is a major factor in determining your NYSLRS retirement benefits. Employees’ Retirement System (ERS) members who joined NYSLRS on or after April 1, 2012, are in Tier 6. They have plenty of company. There were 205,020 ERS Tier 6 members as of March 31, 2018, making up one-third of ERS membership.

ERS Tier 6 members contribute to the Retirement System based on their earnings, but the amount of their pensions will be determined by years of service and final average salary, not by the amount of their contributions.

ERS Tier 6 Membership Milestones

ERS Tier 6 members need ten years of service credit to become vested. Once vested, they’re eligible for a lifetime pension benefit as early as age 55, but if they retire before the full retirement age of 63, their benefit will be reduced. Tier 6 correction officers, however, can retire with 25 years of service, regardless of age, without penalty.

The Final Average Salary (FAS) Calculation

An ERS Tier 6 member’s final average salary is the average of their earnings in the five highest-paid consecutive years of employment. Earnings in any year included in the period cannot exceed the average earnings of the previous four years by more than 10 percent.

Tier 6 Service Retirement Benefit

Generally, if an ERS Tier 6 member retires with less than 20 years, the benefit is 1.66 percent of their final average salary for each year of service. If a member retires with exactly 20 years of service, the benefit is 1.75 percent of their final average salary for each year of service (35 percent of the member’s final average salary).

If a member retires with more than 20 years of service, they receive 35 percent for the first 20 years, plus 2 percent for each additional year. For example, a member with 35 years of service can retire at 63 with a pension worth 65 percent of their final average salary.

If you’re an ERS Tier 6 member, you can find out more about your benefits in one of these plan booklets:

As a NYSLRS member, you are part of a defined benefit plan, also known as a traditional pension plan.

Your pension is based on a preset formula that takes into account your salary and years of service. It will not be based on your individual contributions to the Retirement System.

If you retire with a NYSLRS pension, you will receive a monthly pension payment for the rest of your life.

Defined Contribution Plans

Defined benefit plans are often confused with 401(k)-style retirement savings plans, which are defined contribution plans.

With a defined contribution plan, the employer, employee or both make contributions to an individual retirement account, and the money in the account is invested. In most cases, it is the responsibility of the employee to make investment decisions, or the plan may offer pre-packaged investment options. At retirement, the employee will have an account that includes the accumulated value of contributions and investment returns, minus any fees.

The amount of money the employee has at retirement is dependent on the investment returns of the individual account, so market downturns, especially near retirement, can affect the value of the benefit. The employee also can run the risk of outliving their savings.

NYSLRS’s Defined Benefit Plans

NYSLRS actually administers more than 300 retirement plans, but all are defined benefit plans and share certain features. NYSLRS plans: